Random Article Summary #152

WGPB FM 97.7 is a public radio station based in Rome, Georgia. It is part of the Georgia Public Broadcasting network, which is connected to National Public Radio, Public Radio Exchange, and American Public Media. Unlike most GPB stations, WGPB does not fully repeat (simulcast) the network’s programming. The station also creates its own shows. Its studios are at the James D. Maddox Heritage Hall on the Georgia Highlands College campus in downtown Rome, where local programs begin. WGPB started broadcasting as WGPB at 5 AM on June 30, 2006. The station started broadcasting on May 22, 1965 as WROM-FM, sister station to WROM AM 710. In November 1979 it changed to WKCX (“K98”), and it later used a hot adult contemporary format, with a satellite-delivered format most of the day except mornings and afternoons. It was owned by Mills Fitzner for 20 years through Briar Creek Broadcasting Corp. In 2006, WKCX was sold to Georgia Public Broadcasting, and its format changed from hot adult contemporary to public broadcasting. The deal was announced in March and finalized on June 29, right before GPB started using the frequency, with most staff leaving on May 31 to prepare. The station officially began broadcasting as WGPB at 5 AM on June 30, 2006. WGPB is the first GPB/NPR station in northwest Georgia, covering all of Floyd County and about half of each neighboring county, with limited alternatives from Atlanta or Chattanooga due to weak signals in Rome. It broadcasts at 4,200 watts from a high antenna (241 m), which effectively gives it roughly the coverage of a higher-power station, and it also carries GPB programming on WNGH-TV 18’s second audio channel when that channel is not used for SAP. In 2013, GPB asked the FCC to move the station east, which would lessen coverage in northeast Alabama but improve it around northwestern metro Atlanta, adding areas like Cartersville and Acworth. The change would increase power while lowering antenna height, resulting in about the same coverage area (possibly slightly larger) with more people living within its signal. The station also had a low-power broadcast translator, W221CG at 92.1 MHz, licensed near Kennesaw but with limited coverage, reaching only as far north as Emerson. It was owned by Radio Assist Ministry (not GPB/GPTC) and may not have been airing WGPB, later being reassigned and sold to Cumulus Licensing to relay commercial station WWWQ. It was moved west-southwest in 2009 and later planned to move again to serve Lithia Springs on 92.5 MHz, becoming W223BP in 2012.